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Monday, April 10, 2017

LIBOR Rigging

Following the acquittal of two former Barclay's traders last week,
Panorama asks if the right people are being blamed for what has been
called the biggest financial fix of all time.

Piecing together explosive
new evidence, which calls into question the safety of other
convictions, Panorama reporter Andy Verity reveals that manipulation of
the world's most important interest rate, Libor, was allowed and even
ordered by people at the highest levels of the financial establishment.

A secret recording that implicates the Bank of England in Libor rigging has been uncovered by BBC Panorama.

The
2008 recording adds to evidence the central bank repeatedly pressured
commercial banks during the financial crisis to push their Libor rates
down.

He
tells him: "The bottom line is you're going to absolutely hate this...
but we've had some very serious pressure from the UK government and the
Bank of England about pushing our Libors lower."
Mr Johnson
objects, saying that this would mean breaking the rules for setting
Libor, which required him to put in rates based only on the cost of
borrowing cash.

Mr Johnson says: "So I'll push them below a realistic level of where I think I can get money?"

His
boss Mr Dearlove replies: "The fact of the matter is we've got the Bank
of England, all sorts of people involved in the whole thing... I am as
reluctant as you are... these guys have just turned around and said just
do it."

It is of course convenient for banks to blame others (eg the Bank of England).